Teleus
|short_stories = Wineshop}}'Teleus '''is the captain of Attolia's Palace Guard. He has appeared as a minor or secondary character in every book except possibly ''The Thief, in which the captain of the guard is unnamed and may have been Teleus's predecessor. Story The Queen of Attolia Teleus was present in the capital when Eugenides was captured. Later, he was also present in Ephrata when the queen was abducted. Although Nahuseresh attempted to implicate Teleus in Eugenides's plot, Attolia did not believe him, and instead worked with Teleus to subdue Nahuseresh. The King of Attolia Shortly after becoming king of Attolia, Eugenides expressed his desire to reduce the size of the Guard by half, a plan which Teleus bitterly opposed. Eugenides was also interested in training with the Guard, and was discussing this possibility with Teleus when he was attacked by Costis. The queen wanted to hang Costis for his crime, but Eugenides pointed out several other potentially lethal situations that Teleus had allowed to happen on his watch, and suggested that it would be unfair to hang Costis without hanging Teleus as well. Although this was actually part of a ploy by Eugenides to save Costis's life, Teleus interpreted the incident as an attempt by the king to eliminate him and undermine the queen. Eugenides eventually offered an alternate proposal, sparing Costis's life in exchange for Teleus's improved performance. Teleus was prepared to reject the offer, but the queen ordered him to accept it. Over the next several weeks, Teleus worked together with Relius to put an end to the most egregious misbehavior in the palace. However, Teleus later agreed to promote Aristogiton's squad to the Third Century, despite the squad not being qualified for such a promotion. As a result, the king was seriously injured during an attempted assassination while his inexperienced guards were distracted from their duty. For this failure, the queen intended to have Teleus, Aristogiton, and his entire squad put to death. After his arrest, Teleus acknowledged that the promotion had been a mistake, and that he would not have done if for the queen's bodyguard. Although Teleus was resigned to his fate, Costis appealed to the king, and under the king's instructions Teleus repeated the Eddisian invocation of Hephestia in archaic to the queen at his sentencing. The queen immediately understood where the message had come from, and although she was furious, she freed Teleus and the other prisoners. Two days later, Teleus was reinstated as captain of the Guard. Immediately afterwards, Teleus was present when the king pardoned Relius. Teleus initially refused to accept the king's order, since the queen and previously condemned Relius, and the argument between the two of them rapidly escalating into a shouting match. Finally, after seeing Relius attempt to block out the sound, Teleus relented. He then personally carried Relius up to the infirmary, with the assistance of the other guards. Some time later, after Eugenides defeated Costis in a sparring match, Teleus offered to spar with the king as well. In order to ensure that Teleus would not go easy on him, Eugenides proposed a bet: if Teleus won, he would not reduce the Guard by half. Teleus accepted the terms, and was defeated almost instantly by the king. Afterwards, Teleus offered to let Eugenides use the Guard's bath, and the two came to a new understanding. Teleus was then the first person to call Eugenides Annux, predicting that he would one day come to rule more than just Attolia.Category:Characters Category:People Category:Attolia